Little White Lies
by AJWSPJS1
Summary: Roy hated lying, especially to Johnny. But this one time couldn't hurt, could it?


Little White Lies (Roy)

Johnny turned around and saw Roy had stopped to talk to _her_. Looking away quickly when she glanced in his direction, he busied himself with putting the drug box away. When he heard her husky voice greeting Roy, he wished he hadn't pretended he hadn't seen her.

Roy said something to her that Johnny couldn't quite catch, and her warm laugh washed over him. It made him feel good hearing how happy she was, but it made him feel guilty that he didn't stop to talk to her.

He should have stopped when he saw her. He meant to this time. So why didn't he?

Johnny got into the squad, hung his helmet up carefully, then eased his arm out the window slowly. He waited for a moment, then began adjusting the side mirror until they came into view.

Of course, her back _would_ be turned to him, and did Roy really have to stand _that_ close to her? The man was married for chrissakes.

Johnny dropped his arm from the mirror and began thrumming his fingers against the side of the squad. In the mirror he saw Roy glance at the squad, nod his head, and then laugh. He hoped they weren't laughing about him.

A few minutes later, Roy climbed into the squad. "I think she's really nice," Roy announced.

"So glad you think so. Sounds like she's pretty taken with you too. I'll be sure to let Joanne know how taken you are with her next time I see her," Johnny added.

Roy grinned. "Someone sounds a little jealous. But I have the cure for that." Raising his hand in the air, he wiggled a small folded piece of paper.

Johnny glanced at it. "What's that?"

"What do you think it is?" Roy said.

"I don't know."

"It's her phone number," Roy said, beaming.

Johnny's mouth dropped open. He stared at the piece of paper Roy wiggled in his face again.

"She gave _you_ her phone number?"

Roy rolled his eyes and dropped the note onto Johnny's lap. "No. She didn't give it to me. She gave it to you," Roy said, starting the squad.

"Me?" Johnny fingered the note but didn't open it. Then what Roy said, penetrated his brain. His eyes snapped from the paper to Roy's face. "Wait, you told her it was for me?"

Roy glanced at Johnny just after they turned on the main road, and when he saw how pale and upset Johnny looked, his smile faded. "You wanted her number, right?"

"Yes," Johnny said. "But I didn't—don't—need the help."

One blond bushy eyebrow raised skeptically.

"What?" Johnny said. "What you said this morning made sense."

"Johnny, you told me all month that you were going to ask her, but you never did. So I just figured today was the same."

"Today was different. I was going to ask her."

Roy stopped for a red light. "So if today was different and if you were going to ask her for her phone number, why didn't you?"

"Because _you_ were talking to her."

"You walked right past her, Johnny."

"Because you were talking to her."

Roy shook his head. "I didn't start talking to her until after you walked by her."

"But only because I was losing my grip on the oxygen tank. By the time I noticed her, you were already talking to her."

"Baloney." Roy leaned over and snatched the folded slip of paper from Johnny's lap. As the light turned green, he crumpled it, stepped on the gas, and tossed it out the window to Johnny's cry of, "Roy, wait!"

Roy winced at the tight grip of Johnny's hand on his arm. "What's wrong now?"

"What'dya go and do that for?"

"Do what?" Roy asked after Johnny relaxed his grip and let go of him.

"Throw her number out the window."

"You just said you didn't want her number."

"I didn't say that. I did—I do—want her number. I just—I wanted to ask for it myself."

"So," Roy said with a shrug, "now you can ask her for it yourself."

"But Roy, she gave you her number, to give to me. Don't you think she's going to be expecting me to call her."

"I don't know," Roy said. "Maybe."

"Soooo?" Johnny said.

"So…what?" Roy asked.

"So I'm gonna need that number." Johnny squinted against the bright sun to look ahead. "Turn right at the next block so we can go back."

"I'm not turning around."

"It's only a block or two back. And I really, really, need that number."

"And I really, really, really think we need to get back to the station. Besides, we won't find it. That paper is too small, and, it's too windy."

"Windy? It's not windy? There's no wind. Roy, we-" The mic beeped, interrupting Johnny.

"Squad 51, man down. Possible heart attack. 2432 Ocean Blvd. 2432 Ocean Blvd. Time out: 9:45."

Johnny grabbed the mic. "Squad 51 responding."

Two hours later, after having delivered their heart attack victim into the very capable hands of the Emergency Room staff, Johnny and Roy stood at the nurses station sipping coffee.

Roy watched the various nurses going in and out of the rooms and walking up and down the hallways, trying to spot the nurse he'd spoken to earlier today, the one bending Johnny out of shape. As soon as he spotted her, he jabbed Johnny in his side and motioned down the hallway with quick nod of his head. "There she is."

Johnny's head whipped around. He spotted her immediately, and froze.

Roy leaned closer to Johnny. "Here's your chance to get her number again," he said in a low voice.

"Yeah…yeah," Johnny said, still frozen in position, staring.

"She already gave her number to you once. So you know she's not going to say no," Roy said in an encouraging tone.

"I know, I know…," Johnny said. But he still didn't move.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Uh…I'm waiting for her to look at me."

Roy rolled his eyes at Johnny's stall tactics. "She's holding blood samples and medical records. She doesn't even know we're here."

"I can't just walk up to her."

"Why not?"

"I need a good reason."

"You have a good reason. Quit stalling. You said you were going to ask, now go ask. Look. She's headed for the lab now, and we both know how long that takes. So it's now or never," Roy said.

"We could always come back later."

"No more laters. She already likes you," Roy added, inwardly cringing at this last, newest white lie. Roy placed his hand in the middle of Johnny's back and gave him a firm shove. "Go," he said, launching Johnny down the corridor.

As the reluctant Romeo disappeared down the hallway and around the corner out of sight, Roy leaned against the counter and tried to relax the tension that he'd felt since this morning. He hated lying to Johnny, he didn't care what color the lies were, or what size, even if it _was_ for a good cause.

A few minutes later, when Johnny returned with a grin on his face, Roy finally felt his body relax.

"Did you get it?" Roy asked, already knowing the answer.

Johnny's grin widened. "Not only did I get her phone number," Johnny said, waving the folded piece of paper in Roy's face, "but after I told her about how her phone number accidentally blew out the window and that's why I needed it again, so that I could call her about taking her to dinner or something, because I like her too, she said she was free this Friday. So we're going out." He folded the paper and put in his breast pocket.

"Great," Roy said, slapping Johnny on the back. He put his coffee down and reached into his own breast pocket. It was time to come clean. "I have something for you."

"Oh yeah? What?"

"Remember that paper I threw out the window this morning? The one with the phone number she gave me?"

"Yeah…"

"It must have blew back into the back seat while we were driving because I found it on the floor of the squad." Roy handed the little crumpled ball of paper to Johnny. "Grab the handie-talkie and let's go," he said, picking up the drug box. "I already called us in available."

Johnny jammed his helmet on, grabbed the handie-talkie, and followed after Roy down the hall and out the double doors toward the squad. As he walked, he uncrumpled the paper.

The top was blank, so he turned it over. "Hey Roy? There's nothing on this piece of paper."

-END-


End file.
